Fall and what it brings

The leaves are golden and crisp, the tundra has turned a crimson red, and the peaks of the Chugiak range are white with snow...
...God's beautiful creation. God is so good to give us such beauty. I think fall is the most beautiful and inspiring season of the year. I love it....
..my hand is itching to paint it.    

My life of late consist of:

School (of course), art class (more on that later), digging holes and constructing buildings; experimenting and making cheeses and other products with whole goat milk which we are blessed to have from our two goats. 

Speaking of goats...milking in the moonlight with owls hooting and coyotes barking is plain spooky at times...but it can turn from spooky to spectacular in minutes. I was blessed to see a show of the Northern Lights while I was milking! Sparkling stars + Northern Lights + a  full moon + wild noises that seem to echo all around you = You run around the yard ecstatic with joy and awe, milk pale in hand, and milk sloshed in your boot, no more afraid of the creatures of the night.

Along with all of that, what fall normally brings here in Alaska; hunting and harvesting.

~Elizabeth

Don't give up.

I often look at my painting desk in my little corner...dreading the task to sit down and pick up my paint brush. I love painting, don 't get me wrong. But once I stop, just for a day, the task to pick it up again seems so hard. I guess you can call it pure laziness (as much as I hate to admit it). It takes weeks...months even, to gather up enough courage to face my neglected desk and paint brushes. They can be intimidating let me tell you.
Right now I have a cat rock that needs to be finished, or begun...I haven't quite started it. :-/
There is a craft fair in November and December that I need to get ready for. I like to be prepared, though often I end up preparing for it a week before. Ask me why I like to be prepared??
I have a pile of rocks and some wooden boxes to paint, light-switch plates to find screws for, paint over, and wooden ones to sand.

Today my twin sister and I were helping my dad with measuring tape, string, stakes, and geometry (okay, not so much the geometry). We were helping prepare the foundation for a cabin that were planning to build on our land. He was telling us how much he loved writing, and all he wanted to do was be a writer. He reminded us about the importance to keep pursuing the talents God gives us, and to use those gifts to glorify and honor Him. He told us that most of what he does is to give us children the opportunities that he never had. That really struck me and made me so grateful for all that God has given me. Especially for my dad. It amazes me at how many people I've heard say, "Keep doing it. Don't ever give it up."
Well, I'm here to say that, I'm not going to give up, I'm not going to stop doing what I was gifted to do...I'm going right now to face my desk and those haunting paint brushes......on Monday.


-Elizabeth Joy

Bookmarks and a Painting

I painted these bookmarks for a couple of my friends. I cut and shaped the card board and painted these dragons with acrylic paint. Their a lot of fun to do. :)

 

I love dragons. Their just so, so, cool!

I did this painting a while back for my dad to go in his office at work.

 

~Elizabeth Joy

Projects cotinued...

I'm working on a ship model, (a clipper ship to be more precise). This will be the third one I have done. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of them, so you'll have to wait until this one is finished to see what they look like. :) I'm going to model this one after a ship I saw in Poland, The Bounty, which supposedly was the ship they used in Pirates Of The Caribbean.

Please excuse my bandaged finger. :-/

                                

I know it doesn't look like much right now...                                

...but it will once it's finished, so stay in tune. The wood I am using for it is alder. I really like it.

 The other project I'm working on is this painting...

 

I still have a lot more to do on it as you can see. This is painted with acrylic.

~Elizabeth Joy